“I’m nervous.” He took off the glasses he’d put on for the close-up work, stuck them in a pocket.“I didn’t think I would be. The rehearsal last night went so well, was so easy and fun. Big thanks again for getting Di involved. She actually enjoyed herself.”

“Part of the job.”

“I have to keep busy.” His hands went in and out of his pockets. “If I don’t, I remember my baby sister’s getting married.”

“Well, I can do you a favor. I’m swamped, and if you could take this checklist in, go over it with the caterer, it would free me up and help with your nerves.”

And mine, she thought, as he wouldn’t have to climb any more ladders.

“I can do that. Have you seen Mac?”

“She’s helping with the changeover in the Solarium, but I’m going to have to break her away soon.”

Before that, she added her hands to the ones adding nosegays to the white-covered chairs. They were lucky with the weather, she thought, so Sherry could have her outdoor wedding. When the sun went down, it would cool off considerably, but the outdoor heaters would keep the guests comfortable enough if they wandered onto the terraces.

And the trees, she thought with one last look, were as bright and colorful as Emma’s flowers. After a glance at her watch, she hurried inside to check Laurel’s progress. And, she thought, to grab a couple quick slugs of coffee.

The bride and her party were due in fifteen.

“Please tell me you’ve got fresh coffee, and that you’re nearly . . . Oh, Malcolm.”

“Hey, Legs.” He paused from plating some of Laurel’s gorgeous cookies to give Parker a once-over. “New look for you. Cute.”

She wore a full white apron over the blue dress she’d chosen for the wedding. She wouldn’t have time to change later. She had shed her heels for Uggs.

Far, she thought, from her best presentation, however efficient. He, on the other hand, wore a dark suit, a snowy white shirt, and a tie in subtle stripes.

“You, too.” She’d never seen him in a suit, she realized.They’d been together nearly every night through the week, slept together, and she hadn’t been entirely sure he even owned a suit.

“I put him to work.” Laurel stood on a step stool, putting finishing touches on the five-tiered cake. “Del deserted me. Nice presentation,” she added to Malcolm. “I may keep you.”

“But you still don’t trust me with the pastries.”

“Baby steps.”

“Laurel.” Parker took a step closer. “That cake. It’s so damn happy.”

The square layers rose up, stacked like wicker boxes and drenched in color, with a combination of real and sugar-paste flowers blooming over it.

“It’s a winner, inside and out, but I think my favorite touch is the topper—and that goes to you, Master.”

“She didn’t want usual or formal.” And damn if the laughing bride and groom kicking up their heels in a dance on top of the cake didn’t make her smile. “The artist really captured them.”

“And we’re going to be getting requests for personalized toppers like this the minute this one’s unveiled.”

“Which is relatively soon. I’ve got to—”

“Coffee.” Malcolm handed her a cup.

“Oh.Thanks.”

“He’s handy,” Laurel commented.

“My middle name. Got anything else?”

“Actually, we’re right on . . . Crap.” Parker tapped her earpiece. “She’s just turned in. She’s early.The woman’s late for everything, but today she’s early.” As she spoke, Parker whipped off her apron, stepped out of the Uggs and into the heels she’d left beside Laurel’s. She pulled lip gloss out of her pocket, applying it as she ran.

“How does she do that?” Malcolm asked.

“Multitask, that’s Parker’s middle name.” Laurel stepped off the stool. “You two work out pretty well.”

“You think?”

“She’s happy, and she’s confused. A lot of things make Parker happy. Spreadsheets, for instance, and for mysterious reasons. But very little confuses her.”

Laurel paused to take a long sip from a bottle of water.“As her friend since always, I think, yeah, you two work out pretty well. I’m sure you’ve already heard this from Del, but if you mess her up, you will pay.We’re like the Borg on this kind of thing.”

“Resistance is futile?”

“I really do like you, Mal.” She gave him a quick and brilliant smile. “So I hope I don’t have to hurt you.”

He hoped the same.

With Parker busy helping the bride, he was free to wander around. He’d been to a handful of events now, and it occurred to him that the four women and their army of assistants somehow managed to make each one unique. Parker’s timetable might’ve been rigid, but under it, over it, around it, everything else reflected the personal. And from what he’d observed, the time and sweat that went into making it so.

He found Del, Jack, and Carter at the bar in the Solarium.

“Just what I was after.”

Del reached down, put a beer on the bar. “We’re keeping Carter sane.”

“Yeah? What’re you drinking there, Prof?”

“It’s tea. It’s a nice herbal tea.”

“Jesus Christ, your sister’s getting hitched and you’re drinking pussy tea?”

“That’s exactly right. I have to put on a tux, and I have to escort people, including my mother, down the aisle. I have to make a toast. I’m going to be sober.”

“He’s freaked,” Jack commented.

“Shows. If you’re freaked about your sister doing the I Do deal, how are you going to handle doing it yourself?”

“I’m not thinking about that yet. I’m going to get through today. I’d be better if I could be up there, helping Mac, but Sherry won’t let me. I just need to—” He broke off, pulled out the beeper in his pocket. “Oh, well, that’s me. I mean that’s Nick.They’re here. I have to go and be there.”

He downed the tea like medicine. “I’ll be fine,” he said resolutely, then walked away.

“We’ll get him drunk later,” Del said.

“Looking forward to it.” Mal lifted his beer, and the three men clinked bottles.

IT WAS PERFECT, PARKER THOUGHT. SHERRY’S LAUGHTER FILLED THE Bride’s Suite as she and her attendants dressed. The absolute joy proved infectious, and provided Mac with countless photos of happy faces, mugging faces, embraces—and the bride twirling exuberantly in front of the mirror.

Eyes watered up a bit as Pam Maguire helped her daughter adjust her headpiece, and when Michael stepped in for his first look at his baby girl.

“Sherry.” He stopped to clear his throat. “You’re a vision.”

“Daddy.” Still holding her mother’s hand, she reached for her father’s, pulled them together. Turned to the mirror again, her arms around her parents’ waists, she beamed like the sun. “Get a load of us.”

Get a load of you, Parker thought as Mac captured the moment. They were beautiful and happy and together. It made her ache, just a little, for what she’d never have. That moment would never be hers.

She took a breath, shook it off. “It’s time.”

The bride smiled her way down the aisle behind her pretty attendants.When she reached the groom, whose jaw had dropped satisfactorily at the sight of her before his grin burst out, she reached for his hand, laughed.

And Parker thought, yes, it’s just exactly right.

“

BEST PARTY EVER,” MAC DECLARED. “AS ORDERED. HOW ARE WE going to top that?” She tipped her head to Carter’s shoulder.

They hadn’t managed to get him drunk—he’d held out and held up, and now slumped on the sofa in the family parlor, two fingers of whiskey in his hand.

“She sparkled,” he replied.

“Yeah, she really did.”

“Damn good cake.” Malcolm shoveled in a bite.“It’s my favorite part of these deals.”

“A man of taste,” Laurel said, and yawned. “Tomorrow’s is chocolate ganache.”

“Will I like it?”

“Yes, unless you go insane during the night. Haul me up, Del. I am so done.”

“Go, team us.” Emma, eyes closed, snuggled against Jack.“Can I just sleep here?”

Jack rose, gathered her up. She smiled sleepily as she wound her arms around his neck. “I love when you do that.”

“You earned a ride. ’Night, all.”

“I, on the other hand, am pumped. I’m going to take a look at some of the shots before I turn in.” Mac elbowed Carter. “Come on, cutie, let’s go so you can hail my genius.”

He managed to unfold himself. “Parker, thanks for giving my sister a day none of us will ever forget.”

“Oh, Carter.”Touched, she rose to step over and kiss his cheek. “I promise you and Mac exactly the same.”

She watched them go.

“I can see the wheels turning,” Malcolm commented.

“I did get some ideas today. We’ll see if I can make them happen.”

“If anybody can.” He paused. “Am I staying?”

“I’d like you to.” She held out a hand.

ON A BRISK OCTOBER AFTERNOON WITH CLOUDS SCUTTLED ACROSS the sky, and tumbles of colored leaves scooting over the lawn ahead of the wind, Parker called a midday meeting.

To brighten the mood she lit a fire, as fires had always crackled or simmered in the library on chilly days in autumn. And as the flames caught, she wandered to one of the windows to look out on the roll of land, the shivering trees, the rippling gray water in the pond.

She didn’t often wonder where her life was going. More often than not her focus centered on the details, plans, contingencies, needs, wants, fantasies of others. Maybe it was the contrasts of the day, that soft and gloomy sky against the still brilliant trees.The leaves shedding themselves to dance and whirl in the air while the mums and asters stubbornly bloomed.

Everything seemed paused for change, but was she? Change was as much about loss as gain, about giving something up even as you reached for something new or different. And, she admitted, she prized routine, tradition, even repetition.